Program Evaluation Center at Fredonia

The Program Evaluation Center at SUNY Fredonia (PEC): A Health and Human Services Research and Training Center

The Program Evaluation Center was established in 2017 as a collaboration between the Chautauqua County Mental Hygiene Services and Chautauqua Tapestry. The Center faculty, staff, and partners are committed to contributing to health and human services research and program evaluation, educating and training students and health services research professionals, and ensuring that SUNY Fredonia faculty have an avenue to share their expertise with community agencies, and professionals interested in evaluating the outcomes of their programs and services. Support for the PEC is derived from grants and subcontracts that support Chautauqua County and Western New York systems of care initiatives.

PEC evaluation activities include a broad array of evaluation and assessment activities including conducting and consulting on clinical outcomes, workforce development initiatives, and implementation science research projects. The staff also participates in analyzing service needs and provider gaps through data analysis and needs assessments.

A pillar of the Program Evaluation Center (PEC) is participation in the conduct of health and human services training and research. Training is available to SUNY Fredonia students and faculty members, as well as regional providers and community leaders. For SUNY Fredonia students, research assistantships may be available. An interdisciplinary faculty fellowship program has also been established to develop a culture of interdisciplinary research and collaboration at the university and in the community.

The Program Evaluation Center (PEC; the Center) supports regional mental hygiene services, schools, and agencies by contributing to ways that the systems of care and human services are evaluated. The Center develops and helps implement evaluation strategies to investigate which interventions work and under what circumstances within the human services system, and to document the need for continuation, expansion, or extinction of programs and services. This evidence-based approach examines program outcomes and efficiencies by analyzing and synthesizing data that informs the most effective and efficient care for clients.

The PEC represents a strong university – community partnership between SUNY Fredonia, the Chautauqua County systems of care initiative, Chautauqua Tapestry, and the county Certified Community Behavioral Health Center (CCBHC) programs. The Certified Community Behavioral Health Center (CCBHC IA) and Tapestry grants are federally funded by The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). The PEC provides program evaluations of services for these initiatives.

The purpose of the Chautauqua County CCBHC IA is to transform the community behavioral health systems and provide comprehensive, coordinated behavioral health care by providing a range of outreach, screening, assessment, treatment, care coordination, and recovery support in the county. The CCBHC IA supports recovery from mental illness and/or substance use disorders by providing access to high-quality mental health and substance use services, regardless of an individual’s ability to pay.

The Chautauqua Tapestry operates locally under the auspices of the Chautauqua County Department of Mental Hygiene (CCDMH). Chautauqua Tapestry focuses on children and youth 0 to 21 years of age who are at risk for or diagnosed with Serious Emotional Disturbance (SED) and their families. The grant seeks to integrate behavioral health services into every level of the community.

Goals

The PEC team is comprised of interdisciplinary faculty members and research assistants at SUNY Fredonia from Speech-Language Pathology, Social Work, Psychology, Education, and other disciplines. Team members collaborate with Fredonia faculty and students, and county mental health service providers, to enhance education, research, and training, and prepare future mental health care professionals

The Center’s goals include:

• Facilitating the use of data to evaluate services throughout the system of care to provide outcomes driven care that best serves clients receiving mental health services.
• Increasing the use of data to evaluate services throughout the system of care and establish the efficacy and credibility of programs and interventions.
• Identifying and sharing practical ways to use existing data to evaluate interventions and practices and assisting providers to evaluate their practices.
• Building collaborations with and between practitioners, academics, families, and service providers.
• Working with SUNY Fredonia faculty and students, and county mental health services providers, to enhance student training opportunities and prepare future professionals in health and human services.

PEC Guiding Principles

The PEC is guided by the following principles:

Accelerate: Provide individualized technical assistance to meet the needs of diverse communities to evaluate mental hygiene and educational services and drive impactful interventions.

Advocate: Establish evidence for what is effective in individual communities and provider systems and serve as change agents committed to equity and inclusion.

Engage: Connect county, regional, and state networks of community partners, enabling them to share ideas, create milestones, and assess the impact of programs and services.

Inform: Analyze, synthesize, and distill data and research to create relatable tools and usable resources for all constituents.